Alice's dad
by Master Spy advenger
Summary: Alice had a father, a father who loved her. This is what he thought throughout her life, from birth to 'death' and beyond.
1. birth

**Let's get this over with, I don't own twilight, nobody on this site ever will**

March 2nd, 1901

There she was. The little girl I had waited nine months for. As she was put in my arms, wrapped in a pink blanket with her little face peaking out, I couldn't believe this little perfect child was mine. Her face was blushed red, and shaped like a tiny round ball.

The doctor that delivered her was worried; he said she was too small. She only weighed one pound and eleven ounces, but to me she was perfect. When she opened her eyes it was like somebody lit up a Christmas tree, the little blue sapphires shown with so much joy, so much happiness. She reached a little hand up to me and put it below my neck. She yawned, her tiny mouth making a little O, before those magical eyes slid shut once more and her body trembles with every shallow breathe.

I was the luckiest man alive to have her. I wondered what I did that God thought good enough that I should get her, this perfect little girl. My little Mary Alice.


	2. the first vision

**March 2****nd****, 1905**

"Hey Alice" I said, picking up my daughter "Do you want to dance?" She nodded happily and laced her skinny arms around my neck as I swayed back and fourth with her.

She loved for me to do this with her, ever since she was a baby this simple act would calm her and put her to sleep, it only seemed fitting for her fourth birthday. She still had those beautiful eyes the now gleamed with so much happiness you wondered how it all fit in her tiny body and it often came out as pure energy. To my daughter, life was an endless source of joy, the tiniest things could make her happier than you thought possible, and a simple dance with her father was one of them.

"Happy birthday, Sweetie" I whispered in her ear as I set her down. She was now smiling at me, her little not let fully grown in teeth showing. She eyes got those little sparkles in them, but only for a moment.

In an instant my daughter's face had gone from joy to terror, her eyes were vacant, and her smile fell. "What's the matter?" I asked, picking her up again.

"Daddy don't go" She told me in her soft voice.

"Don't go where?" I asked, putting one hand on the top of her head.

"Any where" She ordered "Stay here"

Her voice was so full of fear and stress that I agreed, wondering what was wrong with her. I could call into work and tell them I couldn't come in today, they would understand, they all knew it was Alice's birthday and they always had more than enough people working.

Alice relaxed right away and the joyful look popped back on her face.

"Do you want to know what you got for your birthday?" I asked her, taking her off the subject. She nodded her little head again. I set her down and returned minutes later with my hands behind my back. "Close your eyes" I told her, and she obeyed. I set the doll in her tiny hands.

"Open them" I said, and she shrieked with happiness when she saw the doll.

Like I said, the tiniest things make her happy, I thought as I watched her cradle the doll throughout the day.

**March 3****rd****, 1905**

My hands trembled as I read the newspaper the next morning. On the route that I take to work, at around the same time I would have been there, a car swerved off the road, killing six people.

Alice had known this, why else had she ordered me to stay home? What was wrong with my little girl?


	3. The tip of the iceberg

**June 17****th****, 1905**

There was nothing wrong with Alice. That had been my point ever since she had that first vision that saved my life, she could see the future, and that was a gift. God had created my daughter, if he gave her the gift to see the future, he had his reasons, and that was that. If only other people thought the same way.

The future was now an every day visitor of Alice's, and people that had known her since the day she was born had started to cross to the other side of the road when they saw us coming. They thought she was from the devil, how could any body think that of my daughter, my perfect little girl with the magical eyes…?

Even my own wife was starting to ignore Alice. When a vision scared Alice, she came to me, she told me about it, and she would fall asleep in my arms after I promised that every thing was okay. Alice had told me that she thought her own mother hated her, I told her that was not the truth, and even I had to lie to myself with that one, any connection Mary had with Alice broke on March the second.

Now she had a new baby to look after. She named the new baby girl Cynthia, and she was beautiful in her own way. She was much bigger than her sister, and her eyes were a murky brown color. She had soft blonde curls and waved down her back, while Alice had straight black hair that fell even longer than Cynthia's. I loved both of my girls, but there was clearly a line drawn, Alice was mine, Cynthia was Mary's.

Alice loved her little sister, but Mary would not allow it. Mary told me that Alice would make Cynthia into a devil child like herself, and at that comment I had taken Alice out of the house and took her to work with me that day. How could Mary say that about her own daughter? She of all people should see the blessing this was, if it weren't for her I would be dead.

Even after going through all of this, Alice was still the happy little girl she always has been, the joy has not left her eyes, the blush has not left her cheeks, and the wonderment in the world has not left her eyes. The excitement still poured out of her smile, which now showed grown in baby teeth. I will not allow these things to leave her life; Alice has a blessing, not a curse. I feel bad for the man that thinks otherwise, they are truly missing out on the greatest wonder God has put on this earth. It was all the tip of the iceberg.

I could hear Alice's tiny feet trotting down the hall, struggling to open the door, and then jump on the bed. "Wake up Daddy" She told me.

"Don't you need to sleep?" I asked her playfully. Alice had never been much of a sleeper. Alice just looked at me with wonder in those big eyes of hers. I knew what this meant, she was having a vision. When she became aware again she smiled.

"Good vision?" I asked. She nodded. "Can I know what it is?" She shook her head.

"Well then I'm just going to have to tickle it out of you" I said, launching my arm at her neck, her ticklish spot. She giggled and tried to pull my hand off, but she no match. Her laughter made me smile too, my daughter was perfect, she was not a spawn of the devil.

Alice never did tell me what that vision was, but she kept looking at me and smiling as I helped her get dressed. She insisted on a purple dress for church, she always was picky when it came to what she wore. Mary was helping Cynthia in the next room, who was still a baby and not nearly as picky.

When we got to church we sat in our usual pew and waited for the pastor to begin. Mary had Cynthia in her lap, since she was being fussy today, and I had Alice on the other side of me. For a four year old girl she was well behaved in church, and I never had any problems keeping her quite.

When it was over the priest asked if he could speak with me, and I fallowed him to his office.

"It had come to my attention that your daughter Alice claims to see the future?" He asked and stated at the same time.

"That is because she can and I believe it to be a gift from God himself." I told him. This couldn't be ending well.

"The teachings of God say otherwise" He told me. "He says that physics are creations of the devil, and, William, I can't have that in my church"

"So, you're telling us not to come back, because you're scared of a four year old little girl?" I asked. He seemed unsure of how to answer.

"God would never turn away my daughter because of a blessing he gave to her." He told him before getting up to leave.

"Your daughter is going to hell" He yelled before the door was fully closed.


	4. Her life will get better

**September 21****st****, 1906**

Since we had been banned from out church, Mary had found another one for her and Cynthia to go to in the next town while I stayed home Alice every Sunday morning, and Friday and Wednesday night. Tonight was a Friday, and I was watching Alice draw as she laid on the floor in the living room.

Alice had always been an excellent drawer, her talents outshined most adults, and she often drew what she saw in her visions for me. I was glad she found something she was good at and enjoyed at such an early age, she had dozens of her drawings pinned up on the walls of her room.

Most of these drawings were of people; the same seven people came up the most, along with five or six others that she had seen once or twice. They were all much older than her, the youngest one looked like she was eight in one, but her size always changed. Alice knew this girls name, but when she tried to tell me she found it too hard for her to pronounce, it was something very unusual though.

There was one boy that she saw most; she had told me she was going to marry him. He had blonde hair like Cynthia and blue eyes like Alice, and he was covered in scars. He looked to be about twenty or twenty-one. He sure was lucky, Alice thought very highly of him.

Not all of them were always people, some of them were giant wolves sometimes, and people at others. Alice told me she was sure they were the same people. So far there was Jacob, Sam, and Seth, and Alice didn't like them nearly as much as the people, she said they were rude. Most of the time she couldn't see them, only when they were with another person that was always human, and this annoyed her greatly.

One person she also couldn't see sometimes was a girl she said was named Bella, sometimes she just left her sight and she couldn't find her any where. This scared her just as much as it annoyed her.

Alice was putting the finishing touches on the new picture; it was a white house in the woods, Bella was in front of it with a boy that she said was named Edward, and by the way that Edward held onto Bella I guessed that they were married. Alice was very proud of this drawing, and she should be, it looked like somebody had taken a photograph of it, it was so perfect.

Mary had disappointed me with her behavior to Alice. If she had disliked her before we were banned from the church, she despised her now. She only saw out daughter as a black mark on the family, something she wanted to wash away before it set in forever. The line that had been there before was now a wall, dividing not only us but the rest of our family as well. Mary's side of the family had taken her side and agreed that Alice had to be evil, while my parents and brother thought that it was a blessing just as I had.

Alice's future had become a common argument between us; Mary wanted to send her away, so she would not infect Cynthia, while I would never stand for it. Alice was my daughter, she was a member of this family, and she was staying right here until the day she left on her own will.

Although I hated to think of this, I was willing to take Alice away if Mary kept talking about sending her away. My parents were in New York, I could take her there, and Mary wouldn't bother to fallow after us. On my gravestone Alice was not going to grow up any where but with me and the family that accepted her.

It was starting to get late, Mary and Cynthia would be home in about a half hour, and Alice was getting tired. She got into my lap and looked at me those eyes that still reminded me of the day she born and smiled. It never stopped amazing me that she was still so happy when her life was like this, but maybe she saw her life getting better sometime soon.

She had her drawing her little hands, trying not to wrinkle the paper as she admired her work.

"You did a beautiful job" I told her.

"Thank you daddy" She told me seconds before she yawned. In a few minutes her eyes were closed and her body went limp. I carried her back to her room and set her down in bed, then carefully unwound her fingers from the paper and got a piece off tape from the kitchen, then hung it up next to her very favorite picture.

It was of her and her husband, she was about eighteen, and he was the same twenty-something self as always. Alice had her head on his chest and had her eyes shut, though her body looked to alert for her to be asleep. He had his arms around her, and was looking at her with amber colored eyes that were pouring love out them.

It was the pictures like this that told me that Alice's life was going to get better, that it wouldn't always be like this.


	5. Hopes, worries, and Embry

**October 14****th****, 1906**

I was taking Alice up to New York to visit my family for two weeks, and we were leaving in just a few hours. We were taking a train that was a three day trip, but I had no doubt Alice wouldn't get bored, I had gotten her a new drawing pad and a box crayons for the trip.

Mary was staying here with Cynthia, Mary was no longer welcome with my family, and she would not allow me to take Cynthia alone with Alice. I had expected that, but a fight had still broken out when she refused to let her go. Every day Mary's tolerance for Alice grew weaker and weaker, and I was the only thing that kept her away from a mental asylum.

While we were down there I was going to talk to my parents about Alice and I coming to New York to keep Alice out of the asylum, it was just a matter of time before Mary broke. That was made clear just a few days ago.

Alice had a vision while I was at work, the worst one she had ever had. She saw the start of a war, and me going to fight in it. She had mistakenly ran to Mary after it was over, she was so terrified, and when she told her mother what she saw, Mary slapped her on her cheek. Alice now had a yellowing bruise on her face, and I had learned not to leave Alice home alone with Mary. Now when I went to work I always brought Alice with me, I worked at a newspaper office and it was one of the only places where everybody liked Alice. They all had gotten to know her and like her, and they knew she was too sweet to be of the devil and her visions right too often to be crazy, and since she was so well behaved my boss allowed her to stay.

But now that Alice saw me going off to war, I knew that as soon as I left Alice would be sent to the asylum. I had asked Alice to concentrate really hard and tell me when it was going to start, and she said six years and I would leave. Alice would be ten. Before I left, I was planning on taking Alice on another visit to New York, and not bringing her back. Hopefully this would work until I got back.

When Alice and I got to the train station we were just barely going to make our train in time, but after quickly weaving through the crowds we got there, and I watched Alice start a drawing as the train roared to life. I couldn't wait to get Alice to New York, she had only been there one other time in her life, and she had only been a baby, so she didn't remember it. In New York Alice could be a average little girl in every body else's eyes, nobody knew about her gift but me and the rest of the family, so nobody would cross the street when they saw us, nobody would call a demon, and nobody would look at her with fearful eyes.

I hoped she would like living there with her grandparents. They adored her almost as much as I did, they were grateful to her for saving my life, and thought that she was the perfect little girl that I did. My brother Scott loved his little niece; he was much like a little kid himself. I knew this was the right thing for Alice; she couldn't live in the asylum Mary wanted to put her in, and as long as she was away from her and Cynthia she would be happy.

But in the back of my mind I wondered what would happen if I never came back from the war. Would Cynthia be okay? What if she started to get visions like her sister? I would be abandoning one of my daughters, and for that I would never forgive myself. I hoped that if she did get the visions, she would have learned from the example her sister set for her that she should not tell her mother, but if she was only four she was going to be just like Alice and tell people what she saw.

When we got to the first stop I took Alice out into the platform, and walked around with her waiting for the out train to start again. Just as I had thought, Alice had not gotten bored or fussy, only annoyed by the children that were crying around us. Their parents had looked at me and Alice with envy, as if they wished their children were as well behaved. While other kids jumped around the train and yelled, Alice was happy to sit swinging her legs and telling me about how she couldn't wait to get to New York.

When we got back on the train and it started to move, I noticed that Alice looked like she was hiding something.

"What do you have there, Alice?" I asked.

"Nothing" She said innocently, clutching her pocket as it moved. I gently took her hand off it and reached in the bulging pocket.

"You did not" I said, shocked.

"He looked so lonely daddy, and when I picked him up he looked so happy, I couldn't leave him there" She rushed to defend the little brown dog that was trying to lick her face. "Please don't make me give him away" She pulled out her big eyes and put that begging look in them, and I thought about it for a minute.

"You are to go ask every person on this train if the dog is theirs, and if not, you can keep him, if it's okay with your mother as well" I told her, and she jumped up and started asking the people if they lost the dog. None of them must have, because she returned with the dog still tucked in her arms.

She spent the rest of the ride playing with the dog and thinking of a name for him. When we were almost there she told me he looked a lot like the wolves in her visions, and she named him Embry, after the one with brown fur that matched her new friend.

I hoped that this was the start of Alice's life getting better, maybe the visions she had of her being happy would come true.

I wish I had known about the darker visions she never told me about.


	6. authors note

**Hey readers! **

**I just wanted to thank every one that reviewed if it weren't for you this story would have stayed a one-shot. **

**Also, I wanted point out that Alice can see werewolves as a human because she wasn't under treaty as a human, so she has a much wider range of vision. **

**I update daily, it's my goal to have two new chapters up every day**

**Sorry if you thought this was a new chapter, but I just wanted to make my points. **

**Bye! **


	7. Her future is assured

**October 17****th****, 1906**

When we arrived in New York I kept Alice close to me so I wouldn't lose her, and she wouldn't find another animal she felt she had to give a home. I didn't know how Mary would react to Embry, but I wasn't going to let her make Alice give him to the pound, she loved the little dog already.

Scott was waiting for us, and when he saw us he came up and looked at Alice and the little dog she was holding. "Hello Princess" Scott said, lifting her up and twirling her around.

"Uncle Scott, put me down" Alice told him, trying to sound assertive.

"Stop harassing my kid, Scott" I told him jokingly, taking Alice away from him.

"Relax little brother, I missed my favorite little niece" he answered. "And I see she picked up a stowaway on the ride" He added.

"His name is Embry" Alice told him, setting the dog down next to her.

"Come on, let's get going to your grandparents house" Scott said to Alice, picking up the dog and Alice at the same time.

"Uncle Scott I want down!" Alice shrieked. She got her wish.

As we got into Scott's car I noticed that Alice was sucking on something.

"You gave her another lollipop" I accused Scott. Alice hardly ever got to eat candy; she was so hyper on it. "Last time you came to Mississippi she was bouncing off the walls."

"Let the kid live a little." Scott told me. He really didn't understand the level of energy my daughter could achieve.

"Fine, but you are going to deal with the aftermath" I said.

"She's only five, how bad could it be?"

"Alice, stop that" I said when I noticed her sharing the lollipop when Embry.

"Daddy Embry wants some too" Alice told me.

"I don't know where that dog's mouth had been and I don't want you to get sick" I told her. She seemed to deal with that answer, and took the lollipop away from Embry's mouth.

"Uncle Scott, don't forget to turn left in thirty seconds" Alice told Scott. She must have seen him missing the turn in a vision.

"The five year old is better driver than you" I teased.

"It's not my fault she has visions every time I forget to turn"

He made the turn, which he would usually have forgotten. "Thank you Alice" Scott said. We arrived back to my parent's house in a few minutes; this was the same house that I and Scott had grown up in.

Alice jumped out of the car and ran up the driveway, and stood on her tiptoes to knock several dozen times.

My father answered the door for her; Scott and I were barely out of the car Alice had gone so fast.

"Hey there little one" He said and bent down to hug her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, demanding to be picked up.

"Oh, so you'll let him hold you, but not me!" Scott called to her. "I see how it is"

Alice stuck her tongue out at him. "Annie's been waiting for you to get here" Dad told her. Annie was Scott's daughter; he also had a son named Caleb, who his wife had died giving birth to. Annie was one year younger than Alice and really looked up to her older cousin.

"Allllllllllice" Annie called, hearing her come in. Dad set down Alice and she and Annie ran off together.

"Hey William" Dad said smiling "It's been too long since we've last seen you, how are Cynthia and Mary?" I knew he was only asking about Mary to be polite, but he really only cared about hearing about Cynthia.

"Mary is alright I suppose, and Cynthia is doing so great, she started talking up a storm and she took her first steps last month" I answered.

"Well that is great" He replied. He had never met Cynthia.

"William" My mother said, "It is so great to have you back here, we haven't seen you or Alice since she was a few months old, she sure had grown a lot, hasn't she?" Alice looked just like my mother, with the same hair and eyes.

"She has, she's hardly been able to wait for this trip ever since I told her we were coming." I answered.

"Mary still isn't thinking of sending her away, is she?" Mother asked, quieting her voice.

"She is, but I won't let her." I would tell them what I was thinking of tonight after Alice went to sleep; I didn't want her to hear this even if she probably already knew. My daughter had enough worry in her life.

_____________

It had taken more than usual to get Alice to sleep that night. She had more candy than that day than she probably had in her whole life, and she was a little ball of energy. When she finally did fall asleep around eleven, I went out to the kitchen to talk with my parents.

"So, Alice told me that in six years, I'm going to fight in a war" I started.

"There's going to be a war?" My mother asked, sounding worried.

"Alice says so, and she's never been wrong before." I answered. "The problem is, I know that as soon as I leave, Mary will take her to the asylum, so what I want to do is to bring her here, and not bring her back to Mississippi with me"

"We would of course be more than happy to look after her while you're away" Dad said "She is our granddaughter after all, we aren't about let her grow up in an asylum she doesn't belong in."

"Are you sure you want to go fight in a war?" mother asked.

"Yes" I said simply "But only as long as I know that Alice will be safe"

"If you leave her with us, then you have nothing to worry about" Mother reassured me. I was sure she would be safe here, but hearing it said aloud made e feel all the better.

"Thank you." I said.

Now Alice's future was assured, she was going to spend the time she wasn't with me here with the rest of her family.


	8. Her whole life ahead of her

**September 3****rd****, 1907**

I was definitely more nervous than Alice. Today was her first day of school, she was going to a private school far away enough that nobody knew that she could see the future, and I had warned her that she should not tell any one this. She was old enough now to know that her gift needed to stay a secret, now that she was six she better understood the meaning of the cruel words thrown at her.

Still I worried that she would have another bad vision that would scare her, she usually only had this at night when she was asleep, but sometimes they came in the day too, and she was uncontainable when she had these.

But Alice could not wait to start school. She came running into my room the first day already wearing the grey dress that was mandatory for all the students, and was bouncing up and down with excitement. I helped her get ready the rest of the way, and after she said good-bye to Cynthia (She also understood her mother's loathing of her) I took her to school.

"Now remember" I said, getting ready to tell her one more time the rules I had been telling her for weeks, but she took over.

"Don't talk to anyone that isn't a student or the teacher, don't leave the school with any one but you, don't tell any one any thing I see, be good, and I have to try my best and listen, I know daddy" She said. I couldn't help but smile at the tone she put in her voice.

"Okay, I'll be here at three to pick you put, be good, I love you" I told her before I bent down to kiss her forehead.

"I love you too daddy" She said before skipping into the school, which was actually the teachers house. She only had eleven six year old students, so she really didn't have a need for a building, and had just turned her parlor into a classroom.

I really did hope she would make some friends; she did have a chance as long as she didn't tell anyone about her visions, parents from our neighborhood would not allow their kids to play with Alice because of them. I also hoped that she got good marks, they would be so important in her future, though she claimed she didn't see anything about her getting older than eighteen. She never liked to talk about her future as an older teen, but I just guess that was too far off for her to see properly. She never liked to not be able to see something, after two years with her gift she had gotten used to knowing every thing, and when somebody tried to hide that from her she got ever annoyed.

When I arrived at the school ten minutes early to pick up Alice there were already several parents there, not trusting their children to find their way back home the first time. At least this made me feel better; they all looked equally worried to hear about their daughters first day of school.

Ten minutes later the eleven girls came out the door in the orderly fashion that Miss Koch must have insisted on. Alice was chattering with two other girls on her way out, and I had to smile, at least she had friends.

"Bye Bridget, bye Jenny" Alice called as she broke off the group to join me.

"Bye Mary" They replied.

"I told you, my name is Alice" She told them. The name thing was one of Alice's biggest issues; she had always like Alice, plain, simple Alice.

"Sorry, I forgot" A little red-head girl told her.

"It's okay Bridget; I'll see you two tomorrow"

"Hi daddy" Alice said, turning to face me.

"Hey kiddie" I answered, "Did you have a good day?"

"It was the best!" She told me, jumping up once. "We learned our letters, and I made friends, but Miss Koch makes me go by Mary or Mary Alice, she won't just call me Alice." She made a face to show that this annoyed her. "So I told her that my mother is Mary, so I would prefer Mary Alice or is she didn't mind, just Alice."

I was glad she had a good day, even if she was disappointed that she had to use her full name, but I felt that she would cave and call her Alice in a few weeks.

In the back of my mind I was dreading the day she saw something horrible, I hoped she wouldn't until she was older and maybe could control it better, but I knew it was going to happen one day.

Alice had fun when we got home; she got a piece of paper out of her sketch book and started to practice her letters. She smiled every time she got it right and went to the next letter, but every time she got it wrong she started over on a new sheet of paper. Alice liked every thing to be perfect, if even one thing was out of place she had to fix it, though there weren't many things dropped or knocked over since she would see it before it happened and avoid it. I hated how Alice had stopped talking about the things she saw unless it was around me and in private as soon as she found out that that was why Mary hated her. I didn't want my daughter to have to know her mother hated her, and that she had to hide her wonderful blessing.

_Just five more years. _I thought. In five years she would live in New York and not have to worry about her mother's feelings toward her any more, she would only be around people that cared about her. After that, Alice said she always saw me coming back from war, and we would stay in New York. One of my worries had been put out; Alice said she saw Cynthia living a long, happy life. I was sure she would tell me if any thing was going to happen to her, but then again, she never did want to tell me about the visions she had at night, could they be about her sister? I didn't think so, Alice would tell me about any thing bad, unless it was something bad about herself, she didn't want me to worry about her.

I didn't worry about the what ifs right now though, right now she was six and happy and healthy and had her whole life ahead of her. I was so stupid.


	9. another authors note

**So what do you think of it so far? I would love to know what you think so I can change what I'm doing wrong, so please review! **

**Thanks for reading, happy New Year!**


	10. The new year

**Happy new year every one! I hope you like the first chapter I've posted this New Year!**

**P.S. I'm being year retarded lately, so if I mess up the years in the story, I'm trying my hardest to make sure I don't, but in this chapter, Alice is six, Cynthia is about to turn two**

**January 1****st****, 1908 **

And so started another new year. Alice had said she wanted to stay up until midnight with me, but she had fallen asleep next to me way before then. Cynthia hadn't mad it nearly as far as her, she still had weird sleeping habits that included sleeping all day and staying up at night and the other way around.

Alice was still asleep next to me with Embry pressed up against her chest at midnight, so I carefully picked her and the dog up and took her to her room. Alice sure had gotten attached to the little dog; she wanted to take him every where with her. I usually let her have her way, and the dog was with her almost all day excluding school, though she had slipped Embry into her bad and took him with, until he jumped out that is. Alice came home with a very livid note from her teacher and an order to keep him at home from now on.

I took Cynthia to bed next. Cynthia had her pet too, an orange cat that she had named Kitty. She was two, what did you expect? She loved her cat, but Embry and Kitty had a full on war going on. Alice refused to let them be in the same room together, for fear that her dog would attack the little cat, or the other way around. She had just gotten the cat a few months ago, and liked to always have her on her lap, so Alice almost always had to keep Embry in her room unless Cynthia happened to have the cat with her in her room.

Alice's future sight had become something she never talked about. Someone might think it had vanished, or it had only been a phase she grew out of, but if you looked carefully you could still see when she was having a vision, she got a blank look over her face, and her eyes were always focused on something far away. She still had those bad visions at night, and she had told me what they were of. Darkness, nothing but complete and total blackness all around her. She had become terrified of the dark, and refused to be a room with all the lights out. She had never been afraid of the dark before, not even when she was a baby, so the sudden change was eerie for my little girl, if any thing, all the other six year olds were getting over their fear of darkness, while Alice was getting one.

Her future was starting to confuse her; she got visions of her life in New York, and visions of the dark. I knew that the visions of the dark were of her in the asylum, but I didn't tell her this. She didn't know her mother wanted to send her away, I thought she should keep that sense of familiarity that all the other children had. I was changing my mind about leaving; I had sworn I would not leave unless I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Alice would safe, and I did not have that.

I didn't have to go; I could take Alice to New York myself and stay there with her. It had been made clear that Alice would not stay here countless times. Every time she got that vacant look around Mary, her mother's face became more and more decided, like it was all up to her what would happen to out daughter. Well it wasn't, I had a say in this, and I would never allow it in my life.

"She isn't a baby any more you know" Mary told me when I saw her next. "You could have just woken her up and had her walk to bed herself"

"Well I didn't want to wake her up, you know her, if she woke up now she would never have fallen asleep again." I answered calmly.

"Well she should learn how to, you aren't going to be there forever" She went on to say.

"I may not be there forever, but I intend to be there for as long as possible, meaning until she has children herself at the very least"

"William, nobody is ever going to marry her the way she is, someone might, if we send her to the asylum so she can get better"

"There is nothing to fix" I told her "She is perfectly normal and in no need of an asylum, and I know she is going to get married"

I tried not to tell her this was because she had seen her husband in a vision; this would only make her even angrier. Mary didn't bother to answer me; she just walked out of the room. I hated how she thought nobody would marry our daughter; Alice had known her husband since she was four years old. She was going to get married and have a family of her own one day, even though Alice insisted she was never going to raise children of her own, that she would be unable to.

Alice didn't have any bad dreams tonight, though for her bad dreams always came true, and slept through the night. I didn't know why she was so insistent on her inability to bear children; she would only say that it was because she was never going to change. Alice had taken a liking to be ever vague about her visions, and I never pushed her, I was lucky she would tell me about it at all. She did also insist that she was going to be happy forever and she always said _forever_ as if she really meant forever. Right now, I wished the happiness would come, and take away the dread I felt for my daughter.


	11. a day at the park

**June 1****st****, 1906 **

"Stay close," I warned my daughters. It was a clear day, with the last of the birds returning from their extented winter vacations, and I agreed to take my girls to the park for the afternoon. All ready on the way here Cynthia had tried to put Embry in her doll carriage, and had hit him out of frustration when he refused to lay still in the blanket she wrapped him in. Alice was furious and had made to hit her back for him, but I grabbed her arm mid swing to keep her from hitting her, then had to talk to both of them about why we shouldn't hit people when we're mad. All ready I could see the sister's wouldn't be close when they grew up.

Mostly, I only had to tell Cynthia to stay close. She was the one that made friends with every kid she came in contact with, and would run off with them for hours. Kids knew they had to stay away from Alice. Should one of them not all ready know about her, when their parents saw her they ordered their kids to stay away. Even Bridget and Jenny, her little friends at school, had ben warned not to talk to her. Word travels fast.

Things had been going worse for my little girl lately. As she got older, the few people who believed it was a childhood phase quickly saw it was much more, and now all most everyone was against her. I was no longer allowed to bring her to my office, and she was one step away from being expelled from school. I hated leaving her alone with her mother, but I had no other choice. No one was able to see past what they had been forced to believe for years. Any thing and anyone different was evil and a disgrace to God. If things always went that way, Christains would still be buring for their values, yet a few brave people came and changed everyone's mind. Now those same people who would have been killed hundreds of years ago for wearing a cross around their neck and going to church were against a new party themselves. They picked a much weaker and innocent group, my daughter. Would they ever see they were wrong?

Seeing the kids turn their backs on her at the park made me think they wouldn't. But I would not give up hope for my daughter, I would make sure things changed for her. She was a normal little girl, she just had a gift not everyone else had. I wouldn't give up on my daughter like her mother so cruely had.

If the church, the same one that would not allow my girl through their doors, had ruled against divorce for as long as anyone can remember, we would not be together today. Yet Mary still took Cynthia to church three days a week, while I stayed home with Alice. Mary still wanted to send Alice away, but I had kept to my word and no allowed it. I rarely used my role as husband in thise realationship to conrtol her, but she would regret it if she got rid of our daughter, maybe not for twenty years or more, but one day she would. If she got rid of our daughter, I would leave her. That alone should have changed her mind, she would never be able to remarry at this age, and she would have a hard time finding a job and someone to watch Cynthia. Yet almost eery night, she told one day it would happen, and there was nothing I could do about it. She was wrong, she didn't know what I knew. If the time ever came that I would hae to leave Alice for any longer than a day or two, she would be far away from her, and she would never find her.

But right now, I should have fun with my kids. Cynthia was all ready long gone, with a small custer of kids her age, while Alice was still close by me, playing with Embry.

"Hey Alice," I said, "Do you want to go down to the river?" there was a river not far from her, a part of the park that usually went undeserbed day after lonely day. Small children had more fun in the more populated sections.

"Okay," She said, then picked up Embry and started walking behind me.

The smoothly running water slipped over rocks and through the muck that caked the bottom of the river. Alice dipped her figers in it, then pulled it back quickly. It must still have been cold from the past winter.

"You try Daddy," She told me, setting Embry down. She didn't worry about him running off, he was as attached to her as she was to me.

I fallowed her example and slid my finders across the water. After the first shock of the cold, it wasn't so bad.

I showed Alice how to skip a stone, and by then time we decided to go find Cynthia and go home, she was able to make it skip across the water five time. My little girl had an amazing arm, if she were a boy she could play professional baseball one day.

As we were walking back home, the moon started to poke through the blue sky.

"Daddy," Alice asked, "What makes the moon so bright?"

"It's on fire." I told her, not knowing what else to say, but not wanting to leave her question unanswered.

"Whoa," She said, then looked back up at it with a newfound wonder.

**Hey, I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long! I had some personal health issues, and if you want detail, go to my profile, I don't want it a part of my story, hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	12. safest with me

**August 22****nd****, 1906**

The sun was just barely poking through the slight cloud cover the night had provided, yet no one in the house had slept last night. Alice and Cynthia both had a mild stomach flu and were completely miserable because of it. We're pretty sure Alice got it first and gave it to Cynthia, but there's no way to be sure of it, and it doesn't really matter in the end. In any case, both girls were in so much pain from the illness that they had been unable to sleep last night, and Mary and I were too busy taking care of them to get any.

At least we could be thankful they didn't have the deadly version of the disease. A doctor had all ready confirmed that last night, and said they should get over it just fine at home. I was glad I could both my little girls out of the hospital this time.

Mary held Cynthia in her lap and rocked her on the rocking chair, watching as she finally drifted off into sleep. Alice was curled up against my side, and already sound asleep. She was warm from the fever, but not so much that it made it uncomfortable to have her next to me, and to have my hand on the small of her back, holding her close to me. I didn't care if I got sick from her, as long as I could make her feel better in any way I could. The sweltering heat of the deep summer only helped the disease spread quickly among young children and older adults. There was talk of a worse form of Influenza slowly making its way around the country, but not many people had gotten it, and it wasn't much worse than the normal kind of flu people got every year.

It took awhile longer for Cynthia to finally fall asleep, and I had a feeling she would be up before long. Alice had been asleep for about an hour already, so she probably would wake up soon as well. Over the past few days, the girls had gone through the worst of it apparently; Alice already seemed to have a lower temperature than she did last night. I wasn't sure about Cynthia, but I could only guess she was getting better as well. Mary held her for a while longer before brushing a lock of her blond hair out of her face and setting her down next to Alice. This surprised me; usually Mary went out of her way to make sure Cynthia had as little to do with Alice as possible. It was probably just because Mary had been up for the past three days though, not that she was feeling any better about having a physic for a daughter. In fact, Mary is only starting to hate her daughter more. After I came home from work and found that Alice had another bruise, this time on her upper arm, and said her mother had grabbed her after she had a vision, I warned her that if she ever hurt again, I would take both the girls away from her, but I doubt the words had any effect on her. I hated having to wonder everyday if Mary would hurt Alice again, and this time much worse, but if I brought her with me, I would lose my job, and that was not something I could take a risk on. The field for journalists is though, and I'm lucky I found a job at the newspaper I work for now. We would have to move out of the city for me to find work somewhere else as a journalist, and writing was the only thing I knew how to do. I just had to make do with telling Alice that she could no longer tell her mother when she had a vision, but it was hard on her, she was used to being able to tell someone, and now she had to wait until I got home at night to say anything about it. She felt more alone than most people ever will, and she wasn't even out of her childhood years yet.

Just then, I felt Alice start to move and wake up. "How are you feeling, sweetie?" I asked softly so I didn't wake up her sister. She needed to sleep, since she had been up just as long as me and her mother had been.

"better," She said, then yawned.

I couldn't help but smile. She had said no more than four days when she first got sick, she was only off by a half a day. Leave it to my little girl to know everything about anything.

Throughout the day she and her sister both started to get much better, but they were both clearly still sick. It would be a few more days before they went back to sleeping through the night and being able to hold down what they ate, but at least they were a little better.

That night I saw Alice looking up at the moon and the stars in the perfectly clear sky. Ever since I told her the moon glowed because it was on fire, she had gotten more pleaser out of just looking at it than any other kid on earth. She told me it was because she wondered how a fire could keep burning for so long, and if it ever went out, would it stop glowing? I promised her it would never go out.

I picked her up and put her on my lap, tucking my chin in her soft hair. She wrapped her little arms around me, and I felt her suddenly go limp. I looked into her eyes and saw they were focused far off, meaning she was only having a vision. She always felt safe to view the future when I was around, and wouldn't willing go into it when she was with anyone else, not even her grandparents, who she was all most as close to as me. I'll never stop being proud of this.

**I was a little iffy on if I wanted to publish this or not, but in the end I decided I would, hope you liked it, the next one will be out later tonight or early tomorrow afternoon! **


	13. torn with care

**September 30****th****, 1906**

I watched Alice running around in the yard with Embry from the living room window, making sure that she didn't leave the yard. Not that I had too, she knew not too and never had before, but still, it was nice to know she was still where she should be. It was late in the afternoon; she had already gotten home from school and had done her homework for the night. Alice liked school fine, but we would have to find somewhere else for her go to school at by the end of the fall. The teacher said she didn't the other girls were comfortable with her in the classroom, and had given us the deadline to have her enrolled someplace else. I wondered how long lice would be able to go to school there before she was also expelled.

Sometimes I wish she had never been born with this gift. Sometimes I wish she was a normal little girl like her classmates and her sister, maybe then life would be easier for her. Yet, every time I thought that way, I reminded myself that Alice didn't feel sorry for herself, Alice wasn't mad at the world. She like being able o sees what she saw, even if it had its drawbacks. She didn't look at what she didn't have, or who didn't like her, or who thought she was taken over by the devil, she looked at what she did have, and that was the gift to see the future. She had every reason in the world to be mad and bitter, yet she never turned her back on life.

In front of me I had a few drawings she had done just the night before, and I only now had a chance to look at them. Her drawing skills had taken off ever more lately, and was able to do the same quality sketch in ten minutes that would have taken her an hour when she was four and first started expressing interest in it. She drew what she saw, as well as everything around her. There were a few of her school, a heavily populated part of town, trees outside our house, and many more things. She also drew things like the moon. By now she had learned it wasn't really on fire, yet there was a beautiful drawing in here of the moon with flames popping up from it, brought on by the bright sun glowing in the background, closer than it was in real life. The wolves and people she drew when she was younger still sprang up from time to time, and the most common one was still of the man she said she would marry. The only difference was that now his eyes had changed from blue to amber, like Alice had made a mistake when she was little and now was correcting it in every way she could. She even went back on some of the ones she drew of him and ran the amber crayon on the paper until there wasn't a trace of blue left. Alice seemed mad at herself for letting herself mess up like that, and I wondered if she really had a vision about this, and it really was the man she would marry. It didn't add up to me though, she only ever drew him this one age, but said they wouldn't be married for many more years. Wouldn't she draw him as he would look on their wedding day? It didn't seem possible that he wasn't born yet, but he couldn't be any older than twenty in these pictures. I thought long and hard about what it meant before deciding not to argue with Alice about it, she was so strong willed about it, she would never back down, nor fully explain what it meant. I would just have to wait and see later.

Alice now sat on grass drawing yet more pictures. She had done hundreds so far, some she refused to show me, others she showed off proudly. She had to have perfection in her work, if one line was off balance, or the light she drew didn't hit what she just right, she crumpled up the paper and threw it away. I think she was given her artistic gifts to show the world what she saw, if only anyone would let her in, they would see most of the stuff she saw had nothing to do with evil, in fact, most of it was very good. Other than the vision she had of me fighting in the army, and the one that was really nothing but darkness, she had no trouble with any of them.

I watched as Embry ran across the paper, no doubt smearing dirt and grass on it, and turn to bark at Alice, asking to be played with some more. Alice was a little upset, the drawing must have been one of her visions and she feared she would forget the finer details if she didn't draw it. She quickly began a new one, drawing much faster than the one before. She finished before long, and hid the drawing under a blank sheet of paper. I'm not sure why she won't show these ones too me, it can't be that they were the result of bad visions, I always know when she has one of those. Maybe one day she would feel comfortable with showing me them, but for now, I let her keep them to herself.

I looked down at the drawing I held in my hands. It was one of the moon, but it was different from the ones she usually drew of it. She had just learned that people thought that the moon might have at one time been part of the earth, but for some reason had been ripped off. This showed the earth from space, or at least what she thought the Earth would look like, and a large chunk of it being slowly and gracefully pulling away. Little pieces of land floated around, not staying part of us, but not going with the moon either. It looked kind of like someone was tearing apart a colorful snowball.

Alice came inside and saw that I was still looking at this picture.

"What do you think of it, Daddy?" She asked, setting the new drawings on the table, but keeping her hand on top of them, a silent warning not to touch them.

"I love it, sweetheart." I told her. She smiled, her icy eyes lighting up, more beautiful than the moon ever would be.

**Hey! What did you think? There might still be another one up tonight, I'm in a major writing mood and this story has been so neglected. You can e-mail me or review with anything you want to see, I'll be sure to get it in here if you ask for it, since this story won't be wrapping up any time soon!**


	14. this day's snow

**December 23th, 1906**

It didn't take a long time to find where my daughter stood, although the snow was still falling when she and Cynthia went out to play in it, and it was already up to her knees. Cynthia was already taller than her, so I had worried about her going out when it was snowing like this, but didn't want to keep her inside while her sister got to go play. The snow had been coming down all night before, and didn't show any signs of stopping or slowing down. It was just below freezing, so it stuck while still being able to let the girls go have their fun, seemingly a perfect winter day. It hadn't snowed much before last night, and the girls both were excited about it. I missed the days were snow was a fun toy, not an unnecessary burden.

Alice was off for Christmas right now, and Cynthia had yet to start school, so both of them were home today. We had no choice but to send Alice to the local public school, since no other private school would admit her in the Biloxi area, rumor of what she could do spreading like wildfire on a dry summer's day in the middle of the forest. There was no stopping it, and it consumed everything it came into contact with. The public school was the only place she could go, where they could not constitutionally send her away, since she had the right to an education, and that was the only place she could get one.

Kids there were rough on her though. Most of them mocked her visions, and talked about the gossip their parents had heard about her. If they weren't picking on her visions, it was about her size. I have yet to see a child shorter than her, even the kindergarteners that were barely five. She never did hot a growth spurt like most of her classmates did, and I wondered if she ever would at all, or just grow little by little all her life. Alice kept to herself, it didn't bug her that she didn't have any friends that much, and knew she wouldn't want to have anything to do with people like them any way. She was so much more mature than any of them; I didn't think any of the kids her age would be able to see her situation that way yet.

Cynthia's cat was out, never really being pleased with staying indoors, only coming in when he was unbearably cold. Cynthia always worried he would get lost one day, but he always found his way back home some time or another. He had never bothered to stay out more than a few hours, in any case. Cynthia envied the fact that Embry like being around Alice, and fallowed her everywhere she went. She wanted an animal to love her that much, too.

Alice tripped in the snow, falling on her knees and getting them covered in sloppy snow. She got up and brushed them off, not staying down more than three seconds. I went outside to join my girls in their wintertime activities, and Alice asked me to make a snowman with her. Cynthia helped, and soon we had a fine snowman standing in the yard. Alice smiled at him with her wonderful smile that made her eyes light up, and I wondered if she would draw him tonight when we were back in the house. She spent more time drawing than ever once school started, spending much of the day at school doing that, getting herself in trouble on more than one occasion. What the teacher talked about bored her, the drawing interested her, and they had told all of them to do what interested them in their lives, she just thought they meant to do it now. Still, every day she came home with a few new pictures waiting for my approval, and once passed, into her room, on the wall, or stuffed in her desk. She made sure none of them were ruined, ever. She wanted all of them to stay safe forever.

I took a scoop of snow in my hands and formed it to make a ball, throwing it lightly at Alice. It smashed against her back, leaving a white circle on her coat. I heard her laugh in response to it, and turned to look at me. She bent down to form a ball of her own, this one noticeably smaller than mine, and threw it to hit my leg. Soon Cynthia joined in, and all three of us were throwing snowballs at each other, the girls running around the yard to find the most undisturbed patch of snow to claim. I laughed with them, having a better time with them than we had in a while. I liked seeing the two girls get along and not having Mary find some reason for Cynthia to come with her, just so Alice would be able to plant any ideas in her head. Both of them were having fun, and so was I.

Alice could throw hard, but she never gave her full force behind them. Cynthia had a weak arm, so her snowballs rarely made contact. I could have hit them every time I threw one, but I missed every now and then to give the girls confidence.

Little flakes of snow clung to Alice's long, dark black eyelashes, and the cold made her cheeks turn bright pink. The color made the tiny freckles on her nose stand out, something you only got a good look at when she was this cold or sunburned. Her light blue dress and grey wool jacket were soaked from all the melted snow the snowballs left, but she didn't seem to care in the least bit, even though it had to be freezing cold against her legs.

It got dark early that night, as it always did now, so before we had had enough of our epic battle, we were forced to go inside. We left the once undisturbed white wonderland a torn apart, bomb ridden mess, but no one seemed to care about the lost beauty of it. I helped Alice get into dry clothes and got the flakes clinging to her face and hair off, while Mary helped Cynthia.

"Did you have fun today?" I asked her once she was dry and ready for bed. We were in the parlor, watching the fire in the fireplace crackle and pop.

"I had the best time ever!" She declared proudly, with a piece of paper on her lap and a pencil in her fist.

"I did too," I said, laughing. For the first time in years, I was glad it had snowed today.

"Hey daddy," Alice said after a few minute's silence, holding something in her fist.

"What is it?" I asked, wondering what she could be holding that she wanted to tell me about. I watched as she uncurled her fingers, showing me what it was.

"I lost my first tooth today." She said.

**Three chapters in one night! Feel free to tell me if they sucked because I was going to fast, I really would like a progress report on how I'm doing. Just tell me at any time if you think I'm putting Alice's story to shame and I'll do my best to improve, thanks!**


	15. In my heart

**Summary: William reflects on what it would be like if Alice died, and reveals an unknown Brandon family history**

**April 2****nd****, 1906**

The snow had long since melted into nothing, sinking back into the Earth slowly and gracefully. Alice had started losing baby teeth like mad, the first sign that she was really growing up. The spot from the first tooth had filled in with a new adult one, but the tooth next to it had fallen out and now was empty. Whenever she smiled I was forced to laugh, the sight of her with two or three missing teeth was hysterical. She was endlessly proud of herself for being so grown up to start losing baby teeth, and I was proud of her for coming this long. Alice had a big brother. His name was Thomas William Brandon, and looked just like his mother, with a little of my brother mixed in, since the moment he was born. He only lived for three days and fifteen hours. His tiny heart had failed on him, stopped beating, allowing his little life to slip away like it had never existed. Mary had never been the same after that, less loving and caring. She had loved her son so much, her first ever child, her special little boy. She thought he was perfect, she wanted all her kids to be as perfect as him. When Alice's gift was revealed, she had seen it as a fault, and detached herself from her oldest daughter. I think that's why she wanted to have another baby; she wanted another shot at her idea of perfection. Although she'll never admit, I'm sure she wanted a little boy.

I had been terrified when Alice was born that she would die as well. Only two years had passed between Alice and Thomas, I was not over it myself. Yet, my wife needed a child in her life; I had to give her that. After the first few weeks, the fear faded a little, but still today, I fear for my little girl. At any time she could get sick or hurt. Sick with a disease that took no mercy, ravaging her body until there was nothing left. It wouldn't be hard for her to hurt herself, and a deadly one was always possible. My little dove would break and I wouldn't be able to help her, to make her whole again. Those I would be unable to help, all I could do was try to keep her as safe as possible until she was less fragile, more stable.

The picture of my daughter the first time I saw her popped into my head. She was barely bigger than a newborn kitten, so small, so light. The doctors had not expected her to live, just based on her size. Apparently, Mary had delivered her too early, before she had been able to reach her full size potential, possibly dooming her. But she did not die like her brother had, she was strong. A miracle in every way, someone was watching over her, even if the church already deemed her unworthy of Heaven. They were wrong.

But there were many people out there who hated her, who wished she would die. If one of them saw her walking home alone from school, thought of what they thought she was… would it be hard for them to kill her? She was so small, so weak, a child against an adult. It wouldn't be hard for them to lure her away from a crowd if she didn't get a vision about what they planning, which was possible if they did it spur of the moment, without planning to do anything like that. Alice needed a little bit of a warning, a few minutes to shift through a batch of visions until she found the right one. If she didn't catch something at just the right time, they could kill her and never be caught, Even if she did see something, would she be able to stop them from doing anything? The odds were strongly stacked against her; everyone in town hated her and would like to see her dead. I would find them; if anyone put a hand on Alice I would track them down; I wouldn't stop until I did. I would kill them for killing her.

Mary could make good on her threats at any time, send her away where I could not find her. Alice wouldn't survive a mental asylum she did not belong in; my Alice was strong, but not that strong. She would die before long, and I would be unable to help her, unable to take away her hurt. I would never forgive myself, it would be my fault. My faults because I should be able to take her away from her mother, keep her safe from her fury. But I could not live with myself if I took both girls away from her, Cynthia was all she had once our marriage fell apart, and I could not leave Cynthia in a house with Mary, who could not work. Mary could not take care of Cynthia without my help, and taking her away would kill her. I wished I could not care about taking both the girls, leaving her to wallow, knowing she could not stop me, and being torn inside. Maybe then she would know what it was like for her to threaten Alice. But in my heart, I still loved her. In my heart, Mary was still the woman I fell in love with and married all those years ago, not the stranger who was unrecognizable from the girl she once was. In my heart, I still cared about her. There was no way to win.

But the thought of Alice in a coffin, being at her funeral, seeing a gravestone marking the land above her body…. It broke my heart. Worse than broke my heart, it _destroyed _me. It ripped me apart bit by bit, the pain more than anyone could handle, the pain searing all else from my mind, the pain washing everything away, the pain the last thing I knew. Would pain be the last thing Alice knew? The pain of being alone, the pain of being blind, the pain of being in the dark, the pain of being left behind? The pain of her mother giving up on her when she wasn't the perfect son she wanted, but the future seeing daughter she despised? The pain of me not being there to hold and comfort her, the pain of being hated. If her world ended in pain, so would mine. The pain of not being with her, the pain of her not being on this Earth, the pain of her not being under the same sky.

Even though she denied it, Mary would be in pain too if she died. The pain of giving up, the pain of another child lost, the pain of sealing her out, the pain of a big mistake. The pain of seeing Cynthia in pain, because she sister's death would crush her, too. The Brandon family would end in pain.

I would miss her smile.

I would miss her eyes.

I would miss the way her fingers turn black after drawing with coal.

I would miss the way she held Embry.

I would miss the way she sat on my lap at night.

I would miss watching her drift off to sleep.

I would miss the sound of her name as I said it.

I would miss the sound of her feet running down the hall.

I would miss the feeling off my heart being held together.

The list of what I would miss went on forever, I could never write it all. But most of all, I would miss the way Alice was mine, my little girl, my daughter, my dove, my darling. Alice held my heart in her little hands, and if she died, my heart would die with her. Would the world go on if Alice wasn't it? People thought she was the devil's daughter, but if she wasn't here, would they think differently? Would they be guilty? I hoped so. I hoped they were guilty until the end of time for what they thought of her. She was only a little girl; she didn't even have a chance to prove herself.

Would Alice end up buried next to her brother?


	16. I love you, Alice

**Summary: Alice gets hurt, and Mary expresses love for her daughter for the first time since she was four**

**May 18****th****, 1907**

It happened so fast. Mary and I were walking with Alice and Cynthia past a river, one that was going so fast with icy water, from all the melted ice left over from the cold months. We were trying to keep the girls away from the water, but Alice wanted to go closer, so I took her, but kept a firm grip on her hand, warning her not to get too close. Then, it seemed like less than one second had gone by, I turned to tell something to Mary, and my grip slackened a little, just enough for Alice to slip her hand out of mine and run the edge. Like she wanted to test the water temperature, she leaned down to dip her hand in the liquid, and lost her footing,

With a little shriek, she fell into the water, the swift movements too much for her to fight against, and she had never learned how to swim. Time seemed to freeze, but before I could even react, Mary, of all people, jumped into the water. I have never been so shocked in my life, but in the end it made… sense. I always knew that even if she didn't show it, Mary loved Alice; it would just take something like this to make her show it.

I felt useless, I knew that I had to stay here so Cynthia didn't get in the water as well, but I felt like I should be helping Alice. My heart thudded in my throat, and I have never been so worried in my life. What if Mary didn't make it too her? What were either of them thinking? I had taught Alice not to go near water when it was moving so fast, but she hadn't listened today for some reason. Why didn't she get a vision about this? It seemed like just the kind of thing she _would _see in the future. Then suddenly, it clicked. Alice did see herself falling, but she also saw her mother going in after her. Did she want to really know for sure her mother cared about her enough to risk her life to save her from drowning? Alice doesn't remember a time where Mary openly showed love for her, she was too young.

But when Alice decided to test her vision, there were a few things she didn't factor in. How cold the water was, for example, or how fast the current was going. Alice must have seen them both getting out, or she wouldn't risk it, but still, my heart raced, and my hands trembled.

The worst moment in my life was when I could no longer see Alice's black hair above the water. She must have gone under, and I didn't know if she would ever come back up. I know it couldn't have been more than thirty seconds since Alice fell in, but to me, it seemed like three hours. I had been holding my breath the entire time, not allowing myself the smallest inhale of air. Oh God, if she didn't come back up…. She had too, she wasn't allowed to die before me, and she was supposed to have to say good-bye to me, not the other way around. Was God really going to do this to a little girl who did nothing wrong? That didn't seem like the Jesus I knew, he gave love, and this… was so far from love.

"Daddy?" Cynthia asked, looking up at me, fear in her eyes, "Are mommy and Alice going to be okay?"

I didn't know how to answer this. I wanted to say they would be fine, but I couldn't force myself to lie to her, in case they weren't. But I wouldn't let her think that they were going to die today. "Yes, sweetie, they're going to be just fine." I told her, feeling horrible about letting the words escape my lips, letting that look of relief pass over her face.

Cynthia kept her eyes on her mother, who was still trying to get at Alice before the water took her further still away. It seemed like whenever she was close enough, just before Mary had a god enough hold on her, the water took her away. It had carried her out to the middle of the river, about eight or nine feet away from where Alice had fallen, and Cynthia and I kept moving forward so we were leveled with the two of them.

And then, no more than two minutes at the most past before Mary had grabbed Alice out of the water and got her out of the river. They were both soaking wet, and Alice was coughing up water, but they were both okay. I have never been more relieved in my life, and could feel my heartbeat slow. Mary had Alice in her arms, but when I tried to take her, Mary refused to let me.

I could almost smile, that I had been right. In Mary's heart, she loved Alice still. It took something like this for her to show it, but she did. When Alice fell in, did Mary forget that Alice saw visions? Could she only see back to those months that she was pregnant with Alice, and how she loved the child before she even saw her? Did she only see the time that Alice slept most of the day, bright pink and tiny as could be? Or how, not too long ago, the clothes she wore seemed to be better fit for a doll than a little girl, and how her hands were only big enough to wrap around a few fingers? How when she said her first words, we both agreed no one in the world had a prettier voice, and how we couldn't wait to hear her sing when she got older? When she took her first steps, we both agreed no one was as graceful as her, and were proud when she started running sooner than any other child in our neighborhood. When Alice's hair started to grow to a long length, Mary used to sit with Alice on her lap for hours and run her fingers through the curls, the lush softness of it bountiful. When she was two and gave us a smile full of baby teeth, and Mary had been so happy to see her with such a lovely smile. These were all before she started getting her visions, all before Mary started to block her off out of her own fear.

But they were still there, and Mary still loved Alice. All the way back home, Mary kept Alice in her arms, not at all hard for her, since Alice was still years behind in growth, even though she was seven, she was closer to a five year olds size, and never seemed to be able to hold on to any weight at all. All that day, Mary kept Alice by her, and I wondered if it would always be this way if Alice didn't see the future. Then I remembered, if Alice didn't see the future, I wouldn't know, because I would have died in that crash, back on her fourth birthday. Alice would have forgotten me by now, and Cynthia would never have been born at all. Would things be better that way, without half our family, but the tension gone? Alice had tampered with fate the day she asked me to stay home and not go to work, thus keeping me out of harms way.

That night, when Alice went to bed, Mary came in the room while was telling her goodnight, something she hardly ever did. I decided to give them time alone, Mary clearly had something to say to Alice. From the hallway, I heard Mary say,

"I love you, Alice."


End file.
